


Names

by becausecolours



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, brief mentions of sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:48:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6814069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becausecolours/pseuds/becausecolours
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ari has made a lot of good memories with Dante, and he can't wait to make even more.</p><p>The evolution of Ari and Dante's relationship over the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Names

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Nombres](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7194434) by [Gochy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gochy/pseuds/Gochy)



> This has been translated into Spanish by the wonderful @gochy and can be found here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7194434
> 
> Leer esto en español : http://archiveofourown.org/works/7194434

The sky had looked so clear that morning. A normal day in El Paso, just like when Ari and Dante were kids.

 

Fifteen years now. Fifteen years plus a few months, Ari supposed, since he and Dante started dating. He remembered the first time time he’d heard Dante call him his boyfriend. Neither of them had really used that word until leaving for college. It just hadn’t come up. The Mendozas and Quintanas knew their sons were together, and it wasn’t like Ari and Dante could be very public about their relationship to anyone else while they were still in high school. Neither of them were ashamed of it, but the fear of what might happen if people knew was a big enough motivator for them to both keep the relationship quiet. Until college, that is.

 

Ari remembered swinging by Dante’s dorm room– it was date night, and _yes_ , Dante had insisted, they did have to plan these things, or else they’d both get too stressed with school to see each other. So, Ari agreed to planned date nights. And maybe he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he sort of loved them. There wasn’t a much better feeling on a Friday night than knowing that after all the bullshit of the school week was done, he’d get to see his favorite person in the world. And Ari might’ve just been imagining things, but he was fairly certain that every time he picked Dante up for dates, Dante had become– somehow –even more handsome than he was before.

 

Once Dante had answered the door to meet Ari and gotten fully out of the room, so his roommate wouldn’t see, Dante ducked down to kiss Ari. Not a short kiss, either. It was a long, holding-you-close-by-the-shoulders, “oh my god, I’ve missed you,” sort of kiss. Ari almost stumbled back from the intensity of it, and when he interrupted this kiss by smiling uncontrollably and laughing out of sheer giddiness, he quickly made up for it by pulling Dante back down into another. Approximately five seconds later, Ari met Dante’s friend Chris for the first time, as he ran head-first into the happy couple as he walked out of his room on the opposite side of the hallway. Ari had frozen at first and looked to Dante immediately, positioning himself just in front of him. Sure, college had seemed to be a marginally less dangerous place to be out, but Ari had never really let down his guard on making sure he and Dante were safe in public. But when he looked at Dante, he was smiling– a little embarrassed, but definitely happy to see this guy who had run into them.

 

“Hey, Chris! Sorry, didn’t notice we were blocking the door. Got sort of carried away.” Dante reached to hold Ari’s hand as he spoke. Ari, for his part, was still half in panic mode, the other half of his mind reeling from confusion.

 

“Yeah, I bet you did,” Chris laughed as he locked the door to his room behind him. “Who’s this?” he asked, nodding towards Ari.

 

That was the first time Ari could remember hearing Dante use that word. Boyfriend. He said it so _proudly_. ‘This is my boyfriend, Ari.’ Looking back on it now, Ari was pretty sure he hadn’t made the best first impression on Chris. He’d felt so caught up on how that word sounded coming from Dante that he couldn’t do much else but mumble short answers through the rest of the interaction. Dante had been talking about _him._ Ari, his boyfriend. Not ‘the guy I’m dating,’ or just plain ‘this is Ari.’ They were boyfriends. The relationship had been official long before Dante put the name to it, but Ari still felt sort of bubbly inside hearing Dante call him that. It made Ari feel proud, and in love.

 

Apparently Dante had met Chris at a local LGBT meet-up, just off campus. It had turned out to be almost entirely made up of students who had found a way to form a community even if the school wouldn’t allow it to be an official club (they’d tried that though, and been turned down every time). Dante explained all of this and more to Ari as they left for the movie theater that night.

 

That night was a good memory for Ari. It felt like love and hope and pride. And hey, if he’d celebrated that feeling by blowing Dante in the back of the movie theater that night, who could’ve really blamed him? Ari didn’t have it in him to feel even a little bit embarrassed– he was far too busy enjoying the dazed, dreamy look on Dante’s face as they left the movies.

 

Ari remembered a lot of things from his freshman year of college, but that memory was definitely one of his favorites.

 

Their senior year of college had come with its own share of landmarks. Planning for graduation, for moving into their own apartment, for where they were going to work– there were a lot of memories made that year. Just before their graduation ceremony, Ari remembered Dante grinning like crazy, all giddy in his cap and gown. People were starting to line up, and there hadn’t seemed to be a quiet spot on campus the whole day. There was no privacy to be had, but Ari remembered it as a private moment. He’d smiled back at Dante and pulled him in to a kiss right before they joined the line up of students. Ari always felt nervous about big changes like this– graduating, finally leaving school. But he wasn’t doing it alone. And he couldn’t imagine a better person to experience it all with than Dante.

 

Moving into their first apartment was a memory that, at the time, Ari would have sworn he’d loved to have erased from his memory completely. One of the worst decisions he and Dante had ever made was lugging all of their boxes out of Ari’s truck and up a flight of stairs (rent was so much cheaper in buildings that didn’t have elevators) in the dead of summer. The only bright side was that Ari got to tease Dante as he started whining about the heavy boxes halfway through the move. All those years of swim team throughout high school and college had built plenty of lean muscle on Dante, but it didn’t compare to the advantage Ari’s weight-lifting afforded him as they carried the boxes.

 

When all of their belongings were inside, Ari celebrated by lying flat on the floor and nursing a water bottle. Both men were far too tired and lazy to unpack any of the boxes for now, so while Ari laid on the floor, Dante quickly changed into less sweaty and disgusting clothes, then went down to get the key to their mailbox and talk to the landlord. When twenty minutes went by without Dante returning, Ari didn’t think much of it. Dante was a sociable guy, Ari wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d somehow gotten into a lengthy discussion with the landlord about maintenance repairs or city rent prices. After thirty minutes though, Ari finally had his fill of lazing around on the floor and not being near Dante. There was no way Dante could have actually maintained interest in a conversation with their landlord for this long, even with his social skills.

 

As Ari made his way downstairs, he pulled his hair back with the hairband around his wrist. At the end of the steps, he saw Dante and a short blonde woman talking to each other, both of them gesturing wildly and looking completely enraptured in conversation. It was rare that Ari saw someone match Dante’s energy levels like that. Still, he missed his boyfriend, and couldn’t help but sidle up by Dante’s side to interrupt. He was a second away from slipping his arm around Dante’s waist and kissing his cheek, but stopped himself short of touching Dante. This was a new place. A nice place. He didn’t want to find out if their neighbors would hate them, or try to get them evicted for being queer, on their first day here. Especially not after all the work it had taken to move those boxes upstairs.

 

Dante turned towards Ari in surprise, then smiled and put a hand on his arm.

 

“Oh, hey! Amanda, this is my partner Ari. Ari, this is Amanda, she lives on the second floor.” Dante had a way of doing introductions that made them feel so much less awkward than they would usually. Ari still felt a little uneasy though, not about meeting one of their neighbors, but about the way this neighbor looked between him and Dante with such surprise. 

 

“Nice to meet you.” Ari held his hand out and smiled tightly. If Dante was brave about this sort of thing, Ari could be too. And sometimes being brave had its benefits. Amanda’s expression morphed into a bright smile, and she reached out to shake his hand. Ari felt like sighing in relief.

 

“Nice to meet you too! You two are both so handsome, I can’t believe you’re a couple,” she gushed, looking a little embarrassed as she realized what she was saying.

 

Dante looked at Ari, and they both grinned before laughing a little. They both thanked her and talked with her awhile longer before retreating back to their own apartment. When the door shut behind them, Dante smiled like a dork and put his hands on Ari’s shoulders.

 

“Handsome?” He smiled at Ari and laughed. They were both in a sort of disbelief about how well Amanda had reacted to them. Ari snickered and put his hands on Dante’s hips.

 

“Partner?” he hummed back, placing a kiss on Dante’s jaw.

 

He still remembered that day. Partner sounded so official. Ari loved it.

 

And he had been loving it for years. Even through two moves and jobs changes for both of them, Ari loved hearing Dante call him his partner, and he loved saying it back. It wasn’t that he disliked it now. It was just that he’d noticed something over the years as he worked in this office. When he first started working, all the women his age only ever mentioned boyfriends, or men they were dating. Casual, new relationships. During that time, Ari took silent pleasure in the fact that he had something more than all that. Sure, he couldn’t freely mention his relationship while at work, but he knew, and that was enough. But now, after years working there, Ari heard the change. Women talking during their breaks about their husbands, the newly-married ones gushing about the wedding. He hadn’t expected that hearing stuff like that would bother him.

 

If the world were different, Ari was certain he and Dante would have gotten married years ago. It wasn’t that Ari felt like their relationship was less official now, compared to these marriages, but. He wanted Dante to be his husband. He wanted to be able to call Dante his husband, and he wanted to hear how it would sound when Dante called him the same. They deserved to have that as much as any other couple, and Ari decided that they would.

 

As the end of May drew close, Ari and Dante packed their bags for a long weekend to visit their parents back in El Paso for Memorial Day. Ari had called his mom the Friday they left, telling her when she should expect them in, and how nice it would be to visit home. He stopped just short of telling her about his plans for the proposal. It was still a surprise, for now. And he wanted every part of the plan to go perfectly.

 

Friday night, they met up with both Ari’s and Dante’s parents for dinner. In addition to hundreds of “we missed you”s and “you need to visit more often”s, Dante’s parents also managed to convince them to stay with them instead of going out to a hotel. They had done up Dante’s old bedroom as a guest room years ago, and it would be plenty of space for them both of them. Ari and Dante agreed; neither of them were good at saying no to Dante’s parents, and anyway they really had missed being near family. It was decided that they would stay with the Quintanas on Friday and Saturday, then Sunday and Monday with the Mendozas, so each family would have plenty of time with their boys.

 

Ari was silently thankful that no one had suggested concrete plans other than that. Both he and Dante were far too tired from traveling to go out that night, but as the sun set on Saturday, Ari and Dante were ready to explore their old stomping grounds, starting with their favorite spot in the desert. The stars would look amazing, Ari just knew it. He hadn’t seen the stars like that as much since their summer breaks during college, but he remembered how perfect they looked. And he knew that it would be the perfect backdrop to propose.

 

Dante held Ari’s right hand as they drove out to the desert at night, and he idly searched the sky as they drove along.

 

“I don’t see them,” he mentioned, turning from the window back to Ari. “The stars. I don’t remember having to go out this far to have them show up.”

 

Ari shrugged and squeezed Dante’s hand. They weren’t too far from their old spot, and he was sure it’d look as perfect as it had when they were teenagers. He was sure of it. After five more minutes, Ari pulled the car off to the side of the road, in about the same spot he remembered from when he was a teenager. It was funny how the instinct to find that place still stuck with him. Once he parked, Ari hopped out of the car, a little overeager about their night out. Dante joined him at the back of the truck, walking slowly as he looked up at the sky.

 

“I think it might rain,” he mentioned. Dante smiled as he watched Ari set out a blanket for them in the back of the truck, then joined him there when he was done. Ari kissed Dante as they moved to sit close together, Ari’s arm around Dante’s shoulders and Dante’s around Ari’s waist.

 

“I hope it won’t.” Ari looked at the sky uncertainly. It was oddly devoid of starlight, despite the darkness, but at least they hadn’t heard thunder on the drive out. No, the thunder only started about two minutes into him and Dante making out in the back of the truck. And despite this warning, neither man seemed to notice or care until the thunder cracked violently and rain poured down hard. Dante laughed and looked up at the sky, then quickly hopped out of the back of the truck to get under cover inside the car. Ari followed suit and dragged the blanket with him, tossing it in the back as he got into the car.

 

He swore under his breath and looked out at the rain. No stars, and now they were going to have to wait out here until the rain stopped and the streets were clear to drive again. He frowned and shoved his hands in his pockets.

 

“Well, it was still a beautiful night. For the most part,” Dante teased, reaching out to comb his fingers through Ari’s hair and calm him down. He had thought it was sweet for Ari to plan something like this out for them. Even without the stars, this spot was nostalgic for them. Hell, just sitting in Ari’s car while out in the desert brought back a lot of good memories.

 

Ari shook his head and tried not to be too put out by the sudden change of plans. God, he’d really wanted to do this tonight, it seemed like such good timing, and such a good idea, he just couldn’t–

 

“We can still salvage the night, you know. We haven’t done the whole making out in your car thing since college, I think.”

 

Ari sputtered out a laugh, and Dante joined in, obviously glad to cheer Ari up. When he finally settled down, Ari pulled Dante in for a kiss, just for a moment. He put his hands back in the pockets of his jacket and just looked at Dante. He was so beautiful to Ari. And so important. The rain couldn’t ruin this for them. Not really. When Ari looked at Dante, with his hair all wavy from the rain and a soft little smile on his face, he couldn’t think of a more perfect memory he’d want to make. He took the ring from his pocket and flipped it over between his fingers for a moment before looking at Dante. He wasn’t trying to hide it, maybe he even wanted to have Dante notice the ring like this first. Quietly. Subtly. Preparing him before Ari said the words.

 

Dante did notice– Ari could see it, how Dante’s lips parted silently in surprise, how his face looked so fragile and overwhelmed. When Dante looked back at Ari, he looked at him like he’d been given the whole world. Ari reached for Dante’s hand and held it, holding the ring out in his other hand.

 

“Will you marry me?” Ari’s chest ached with how happy and in love he felt. The feeling only multiplied when Dante nodded and squeezed Ari’s hand.

 

“I– god, Ari. Of course. Of course.”

 

To Dante’s credit, he only shed a few tears, right as Ari was slipping the ring on his finger. After that, he was far too focused on kissing Ari to do anything else. They both giggled in between kisses, like it was their first night together all over again, sitting in the back of Ari’s truck and being amazed at every touch. Maybe the proposal hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but Dante had said yes. _He’d said yes._ Still, when they paused their kissing so that Dante could marvel at the ring, Ari noticed something a little off in Dante’s expression. Dante caught Ari looking at him before the other man could begin worrying.

 

“I can’t believe you proposed before I did.” Dante smiled down at the ring, looking just a little envious. He laughed and looked back at Ari. “Can I do one too? To give you a ring?”

 

Of course that’s how Dante would react to being proposed to. Of course.

 

Ari laughed and agreed, and Dante smiled even brighter.

 

They reveled in their happiness for another hour or so before driving back into town, towards Dante’s house. Mr. Quintana started to tear up when he saw the ring and the way his son and Ari were beaming. Mrs. Quintana looked like she would join in the tears for a moment, but instead she pulled Ari into a hug. After everyone calmed down from the celebrations and Ari promised Sam and Soledad that he and Dante would tell his own parents first thing tomorrow, Ari and Dante retreated back to Dante’s old room for the night. Both men were obviously physically and emotionally exhausted, and they settled in to bed quickly, still smiling even as they shut their eyes.

 

Ari kissed the top of Dante’s head as they began drifting to sleep.

 

“I get to call you my husband now,” Ari whispered.

 

Dante laughed and curled up to Ari’s chest. He liked the sound of that. He liked it a lot.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I'm in love with this book, and these boys. I have a lot of feelings about it.
> 
> As always, if anyone is willing to help me translate this into other languages, please send me a message or something! It'd be nice to make this fic accessible to more people.
> 
> Also feel free to send prompts or fic ideas to me on tumblr @faintlyglow!


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